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On Yom Yerushalayim…

On Yom Yerushalayim, Pour Out a Few Drops of Wine

By Alden Solovy , 5/23/2017

On Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, I will pour a few drops of wine onto the ground here in Israel to remember the suffering of the Palestinians. This moment – 50 years after the reunification of Jerusalem – is a real-life Hagaddah moment.

There’s a stunning and profound ritual in the Hagaddah that comes so quickly that its significance is muted. We drain a bit of our wine from the glass to represent the suffering that the Egyptians faced for our freedom.

Is this a model for how we should think about the suffering of the Palestinians, even as we celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem? Shall we extend the metaphor by pouring off a bit of our own joy at this modern miracle of Jerusalem reunited? Shall we recognize the suffering of the other?

I remember the joy we all felt in the U.S., in the comfort of our homes, as we hung onto every newscast, at hearing that Jerusalem had been retaken by the fearless paratroopers of the IDF. I’m a benefactor of that bravery, living in the City of Gold, even now sitting in a cafe in modern Jerusalem, while tomorrow going on an insider’s tour of the City of David.
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